#1  
Old 03-05-2026, 02:47 PM
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Just to say it out loud, 'technically', you shouldn't adjust ride height using the spring preload. You should be adjusting the spring preload to make the travel of the piston centered on the shaft.

In other words, you want the shock to be roughly in the middle of the travel at rest, and it should reach the end of the shock travel at either end.

If you have it centered properly, and it is bottoming out, then you need more spring rate, and visa-versa.

That technically how it should be with conventional coil springs as well.

The effect of it bottoming or slamming the extension, is it destroys the shock.

If you can't get it centered and the spring is correct for the app, you need either a longer or shorter stroke shock.

To calculate, you can mock up the control arms without a shock/spring, cycle the suspension in both direction, measure the total travel, and go from there. Make sure you have both upper and lower bump stops in place when doing so.

At rest, you can measure the distance from the lower bump stop to the contact point for a compression measurement distance.

(if you get what I'm trying to say)

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  #2  
Old 03-05-2026, 02:50 PM
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Interesting, there are calculators online to determine optimal shock length:

https://calculator.academy/shock-length-calculator/

I just found that, there may be better ones out there, just posted that one as an example.

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1970 GTO Judge Tribute Pro-Tour Project 535 IA2
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=760624
1971 Trans Am 463, 315cfm E-head Sniper XFlow EFI, TKO600 extreme, 9", GW suspension, Baer brakes, pro tour car
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...ght=procharger
Theme Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zKAS...ature=youtu.be
  #3  
Old 03-05-2026, 02:59 PM
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Here is the how-to from QA1:

https://qa1.net/resources/how-to-mea...custom-shocks/

That's probably an accurate method for this particular conversation.

Front/rear weight of vehicle is needed to properly provide info when selecting springs.

The shock itself in an app with a vendor that offers control arms usually have specs for free travel of certain makes/models to determine shock lengths.


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__________________
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1970 GTO Judge Tribute Pro-Tour Project 535 IA2
http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=760624
1971 Trans Am 463, 315cfm E-head Sniper XFlow EFI, TKO600 extreme, 9", GW suspension, Baer brakes, pro tour car
https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...ght=procharger
Theme Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zKAS...ature=youtu.be
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